Teulada-Moraira residents' registration campaign a success

Official population gains 625 residents thanks to council 'Padrón' campaign

PEOPLE have been signing on in Teulada Moraira after a successful publicity campaign calling for everyone to join the town hall register, known as the ‘padrón’ in Spain.

Despite being a legal requirement, the civic list has gradually decreased in recent years reducing the town hall’s ability to invest in services.

However, the decline was halted over 2018 thanks to the campaign called “With you Teulada Moraira is more” and figures just released have illustrated its success – the official population of the municipality is now 10,722, an increase of 625.

Central funding would have been slashed should the numbers have fallen below the 10,000 mark and positive action has reversed a slide that had taken the previous figures down to 10,097.

Teulada Moraira councillor Laura Hillstead organised a campaign that embraced video appeals by residents in five languages, social media, t-shirts, banners, posters and leaflets.

She said there were even officials door knocking – EU residents drop off the padrón after five years, non-European Union people after two years, if they do not renew their registration.

“I am so very grateful to all the people who helped get the message across,” she said. “It is easy, quick and free to get on the register.

Laurels

“This is a great way to start a new year but we are not going to rest on our laurels and the campaign will continue.”

Over 2018, for every person signed on the padrón meant the town hall received more than €177; over 2019, this has risen to over €202.

“It means more money for the council and that benefits everyone,” added Laura. “It means more money for services and the people entitled to access them.

“In the videos, some people talk about street cleaning, gardening and pruning trees – it also affects the number of health centres, teachers, schools and local police.”

The ongoing Brexit debate has also meant more British people have either joined the register or checked they are still signed up.

Laura said: “I think our message was extremely positive and was much better by using local people rather than professionals – it was also very much word of mouth.

“The British consulate publicity and Brexit also had a very big influence and I am very grateful – the consulate team and the ambassador have underlined the importance of being legal and I am very grateful for that.”

And she said people registering also enabled the town hall to calculate the demographics of its community and adjust services accordingly.